2A — THE OBSERVER
Daily
Planner
TODAY
Today is Tuesday, July 7,
the 189th day of 2020. There
are 177 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
On July 7, 1865, four peo-
ple were hanged in Wash-
ington, D.C., for conspiring
with John Wilkes Booth to
assassinate President Abra-
ham Lincoln: Lewis Powell
(aka Lewis Payne), David
Herold, George Atzerodt
and Mary Surratt, the first
woman to be executed by
the federal government.
ON THIS DATE
In 1898, the United States
annexed Hawaii.
In 1948, six female U.S.
Navy reservists became the
first women to be sworn in
to the regular Navy.
In 1954, Elvis Presley
made his radio debut as
a Memphis, Tennessee,
radio station played his first
recording for Sun Records,
“That’s All Right.”
In 1976, the United States
Military Academy at West
Point included female cadets
for the first time.
LOTTERY
Megabucks: July 4
$3.5 million
6-14-22-33-38-47
July 1
$3.4 million
1-2-10-32-35-38
Mega Millions: $62 million
20-40-44-45-50—24 x2
Powerball: July 4
$60 million
16-21-27-60-61—PB-6 x2
July 1
$51 million
15-28-52-53-63—PB-18 x4
Win for Life: July 4
9-23-71-75
July 1
4-36-38-76
Pick 4: July 5
• 1 p.m.: 0-2-1-1; • 4 p.m.: 7-5-2-6
• 7 p.m.: 2-7-2-7; • 10 p.m.: 9-4-3-5
Pick 4: July 4
• 1 p.m.: 5-1-2-6; • 4 p.m.: 6-9-7-0
• 7 p.m.: 5-3-3-5; • 10 p.m.: 0-8-0-4
Pick 4: July 3
• 1 p.m.: 7-2-6-8; • 4 p.m.: 3-6-7-6
• 7 p.m.: 4-4-5-2; • 10 p.m.: 6-3-8-1
Pick 4: July 2
• 1 p.m.: 4-6-7-4; • 4 p.m.: 4-6-2-7
• 7 p.m.: 8-6-8-1; • 10 p.m.: 4-8-9-1
Pick 4: July 1
• 1 p.m.: 3-9-7-5; • 4 p.m.: 1-7-7-0
• 7 p.m.: 9-1-7-9; • 10 p.m.: 3-0-3-3
DELIVERY ISSUES?
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Missing
teenager
found
unharmed
The Observer
Vandals post anti-tourism signs in Joseph
By Bill Bradshaw
EO Media Group
JOSEPH — Signs
in Joseph were vandal-
ized recently to convey
anti-tourist messages and
heighten fear that tourists
are bringing COVID-19
to the area, according to
Joseph City Administrator
Larry Braden.
Braden reported the
vandalism to the Wallowa
County Sheriff’s Office
the afternoon of Thursday,
June 25. He said he had
discussed the matter with
Mayor Teresa Sajonia and
they agreed he should
call the sheriff’s office in
Enterprise.
Braden said June 26 that
a deputy came to Joseph,
took some photographs of
the vandalized signs and
opened an investigation.
Possibly the worst
damage was whiting out
the words “forget to” in the
sign reading “Don’t forget
to come back” at the north
end of town, leaving it to
read, “Don’t come back.”
Other signs read, “Tour-
ists, the fact that you are
here reveals how selfish you
are,” “Tourists Go Home!
You are the spread —
COVID-19,” “Tourists did
Submitted photo
Someone tried to white-out the words “forget to” on the back side of a welcome sign at
the north end of Joseph, making the sign read “Don’t come back.”
A sign along the Joseph
Highway blames tourists
for spreading COVID-19. It
is one of several that city
workers removed.
you bring us COVID” and
“Tourists, before you came,
you checked the COVID
count here didn’t you? So
you know you could be
responsible for bringing us
community spread COVID.
Negligent homicide?”
The posting of simple
anti-tourism signs had been
going on for about a month.
The whited-out sign is
believed to have happened
the night of June 23, “as
best as we can tell,” Braden
said.
“There are some local
expression and committing
a crime such as vandalism.
“Honestly, with the
freedom of speech thing,
I’m OK, but when we have
to start spending taxpayer
dollars to fix it, this is van-
dalism and it’s crossing the
line,” he said. “This van-
dalism is what I’d like to get
stopped.”
Sajonia agreed.
“It’s important for people
to have opinions, but they
can’t deface public prop-
erty,” she said. “It’s owned
by the taxpayers.”
Photo by Ellen Morris Bishop/EO Media Group
EO Media Group
LOSTINE — The Los-
tine City Council is back
up to full strength, having
voted Wednesday, July 1, to
welcome Spencer Shelton to
Position No. 3.
Mitchell Shelton
resigned from the council
sticker,” Braden said. “We
want to let it be known that
this is happening and want
to find out who it is to pros-
ecute them.”
Sajonia said she is fully
behind Braden’s efforts to
stop the vandalism.
“It’s a criminal offense;
it’s defacing public prop-
erty,” the mayor said.
“Larry was pretty upset
about it and I back him on
it.”
Braden said he sees a
clear line between the First
Amendment freedom of
Last of county’s
2020 graduations
By Sabrina Thompson
The Observer
IMBLER — The mem-
bers of Imbler High
School’s class of 2020
ended their high school
careers with an outdoor
ceremony on the Fourth of
July.
Eleven of the 13 gradu-
ating students stood on the
stage as their parents and
supporters watched from
vehicles on the Lee Lowe
Field.
Although the seniors fin-
ished their classes in April,
district officials decided to
wait to hold a ceremony in
the hopes of an indoor grad-
uation as the school has
done in years past. That tra-
dition did not happen due to
the coronavirus pandemic.
Staff photo by Sabrina Thompson
Imbler High School graduates unload from a bus Saturday after riding through town to celebrate their commencement
from high school in an outdoor ceremony.
Still, Imbler Superintendent
Angie Lakey-Campbell
said she and the graduating
class enjoyed the outdoor
commencement.
“Several students asked
why we haven’t held fes-
tivities outside before,”
Lakey-Campbell said.
The ceremony hon-
ored all of the graduating
seniors, even the two who
did not attend. This, along
with only letting a lim-
ited number of people onto
the field near the stage,
allowed the school to follow
Gov. Kate Brown’s execu-
tive orders banning large
gatherings of more than
25 people. For those who
wished to watch the cere-
mony, Imbler School Dis-
trict livestreamed the com-
mencement on Facebook.
“Nobody could have
predicted our senior year
would be cut so short,”
valedictorian Benjamin
Wagner said in his speech.
“But just like the reason
given for the cutoff, this
is only a small part of our
lives. We will move on and
soon 2020 will be but a dis-
tant memory.”
Umatilla County commissioner candidate admits he wrote racist letter
wrote the letter himself and
made false statements to the
HERMISTON — A
police and on social media.
racist letter that recent
The end result is a verbal
Umatilla County commis-
and written admission by
sioner candidate Jon-
Mr. Lopez that the
athan Lopez claimed
letter was fabricated.”
was left anonymously
Lopez previously
in his mailbox was
posted a photo of a
written by Lopez him-
typed letter full of
self, according to
racist, homophobic
Lopez
Lopez and Hermiston
and misogynist slurs
Police Chief Jason
to Facebook, stating
Edmiston.
he had received the letter
On Monday, July 6,
but he had “no resentment
Edmiston said in an email
for whomever wrote this.”
that Lopez had confessed he
The letter, as shown in
wrote the letter. Edmiston
the photo, stated in part that
said the case would be for-
Lopez and other “Mexi-
warded to the Umatilla
cans” were “not welcome
County District Attorney’s
here” and that “America
Office for review for initi-
is for the God fearing, pro
ating a false report, a Class
gun, pro life humans who
A misdemeanor in Oregon.
refuse to be controlled by
“From the onset, this
the government.”
alleged incident has been
When contacted by the
thoroughly investigated,”
East Oregonian, Lopez ini-
tially stated that it was a big
Edmiston wrote in an
misunderstanding. He said
email. “Our investigation
he just meant to speak with
has shown that Mr. Lopez
EO Media Group
Lostine City Council welcomes new member
By Bill Bradshaw
people who don’t want tour-
ists and they’re custom
making signs and stickers
and posting them around
town,” he said.
He said there were even
plywood signs screwed
to Oregon Department of
Transportation signs with
similar messages.
So far, he said, the paper
signs and stickers required
only a few hours to take
them down. But repainting
amounts to real vandalism.
“Vandalizing signs is
more than just posting a
Imbler High School ends 2020 commencement celebrations
By Jade McDowell
LA GRANDE
— Jarek Parker, a
13-year-old from La
Grande who was missing
nearly a week, was
found and reunited with
his family, La Grande
Police Lt.
Jason Hays
announced
late
Wednesday.
The
teen
was
Parker
“healthy
and safe and was
reunited with his family”
Wednesday evening,
according to Hays, who
also said police would
not provide more details.
Parker left his La
Grande home June
25 and was reported
missing that day. He had
taken food, water and
camping equipment, La
Grande police previously
reported.
TuESday, July 7, 2020
LOCAL/REGION
in June. Spencer Shelton’s
nomination and election
were effective immediately.
However, Shelton,
Mayor Dusty Tippet and
Councilor Darci Calhoun,
who holds Position No. 2,
will all stand for reelection
during the general election
in November.
In another matter, water-
master Shawn Young and
Fire Chief Tippet said
spring maintenance in the
city water department had
been delayed because of the
wet weather. Young said the
water department’s telem-
etry system is working
correctly.
“As a lifelong resident of this diverse
community, I’m disgusted someone
would try to carelessly advance their
personal ambitions at the risk of
others.”
Jason Edmiston, Hermiston police chief
Edmiston about racism in
Umatilla County and use
the letter as an example of
the type of racism people
experience, but often don’t
speak out about publicly.
“I never meant to file a
report, it just kind of spi-
raled out,” he said, adding
he “never meant to mislead”
the public.
When questioned about
his statements on Facebook
and the fact he told an East
Oregonian reporter on June
24 that he had found the
letter in his mailbox when
he got home, he confirmed
he had told a police officer
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the same story.
Lopez ran for a seat on
the Umatilla County Board
of Commissioners during
the May 2020 primary and
placed fourth. He also is
a member of the city of
Hermiston’s Hispanic Advi-
sory Committee.
Edmiston said his depart-
ment also was forwarding
information to the district
attorney’s office about pos-
sibly fraudulent statements
in Lopez’s entry in the May
2020 voter’s guide about
his background and educa-
tion. Those claims were also
reported in an East Orego-
nian story before the election.
Edmiston also said
Hermiston police learned
Lopez never served in the
U.S. Coast Guard as stated,
which would be a violation
of the 2013 Stolen Valor
Act. Lopez has not provided
documentation to the East
Oregonian to confirm his
claim of Coast Guard ser-
vice when asked.
“This investigation is par-
ticularly frustrating as we are
in the midst of multiple major
investigations while battling
a resource shortage due to the
current pandemic,” Edmiston
said. “The time spent on this
fictitious claim means time
lost on other matters, not to
mention it needlessly adds
to the incredible tension that
exists in our nation today.
As a lifelong resident of this
diverse community, I’m dis-
gusted someone would try to
carelessly advance their per-
sonal ambitions at the risk of
others.”
In light of the recent increase in COVID-19 cases in Union County we are taking extra
precautions to ensure all of our customers safety. Red Cross will be closed from 1:30-
2:30 PM, Monday through Friday, in order to clean the contact areas of the pharmacy
Stay home let more thoroughly. Olive Branch will be open and doing Drivethru ONLY.
Please feel free to call in and leave refills on our phone line for
us Deliver your continued service. 541.963.5741 ext. 1
medicines to you Thank you for your support as we make every effort to keep you and your loved ones
safe during this time.
Red Cross Drug Store Management
“People Who Care”
1123 Adams Ave., La Grande
541-963-5741 redcrossdrugstore.com
306 W North St, Enterprise
(541) 426-7455 olivebranchpharmacy.com